US giant Campbell’s, best known for its canned soup, said on Wednesday it would no longer employ an executive who was allegedly recorded criticizing the company’s food and making racist comments.
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Martin Paley, Campbell’s vice president of information technology, said the company’s products were highly processed food for “poor people” and referred to his Indian-origin colleagues as “stupid,” according to a lawsuit filed Nov. 20 by former company employee Robert Garza in Michigan’s Wayne County Circuit Court.
The comments allegedly came during a meeting that Garza said he recorded.
“After review, we believe the voice on the recording is indeed that of Martin Paley,” Campbell said in a statement on Wednesday. “The comments were vulgar, offensive and untrue, and we apologize for the distress they caused.”
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The company said Paley was no longer working at Campbell as of Tuesday. He added that the comments did not reflect the company’s values or culture and that this type of language would not be tolerated.
As Garza alleged, Paley said Campbell’s soup contained “genetically modified meat” and that he did not want to eat “a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer,” Detroit’s Local 4 News reported, citing a recording in which Garza said he had a conversation with Paley.
Campbell said Tuesday that Paley has been placed on temporary leave while the company investigates the comments.
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Bali did not respond to requests for comment.
Garza was hired by Campbell as a cybersecurity analyst in September 2024, according to the lawsuit. Paley made the comments during a November 2024 meeting to discuss Garza’s salary.
The suit alleges that Garza was fired in retaliation for reporting Paley’s comments to his manager. The case names Paley and Campbell as defendants and accuses them of violating state civil rights laws.
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Campbell’s also released a document with information defending the quality of its ingredients, stating that it does not use “3D-printed chicken, lab-grown chicken, or any form of synthetic or bioengineered meat in our soups.”